Riverside park was a perfect example of a course maintained by the community that used it. Here's just one instance to illustrate. On a day when the county planner came to walk the park, we had an extreme wind storm. He had to park outside and climb over downed trees to get in. Left up to the parks dept. the park would no doubt have been closed for who knows how long. Instead, we rallied up and cleared the road in a couple of hours. Didn't cost the county or the taxpayer a dime.

People who do work motivated by love not only do higher quality work. They are not hamstrung with layers of red tape which costs the taxpayer many dimes.

Adopting or helping out in a park isn't what I was responding to.

If you recall Capt. Jack proposed that we "get rid of the overpaid parks dept. staff, and just have the public assume all the parks maintenance for free."

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i would put in 3 bucks into a locked can,only to have it stolen(not even baskets are safe from this)....bossman is right about the users bearing most of the upkeep labor. I would gladly join the psdga and contribute if they just had a website to join and pay on-wassupwiththat?

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Most quality courses in Maine that I'm aware of are run on successful and reasonable pay-to-play models. The only one I'm fully familiar with is

Enman Riverside / Caribou, ME
1. private
2. ergo, not a State Park
3/4. $5 for the day. There is/was also a membership option for a full season
5. exclusively a dg course
6. standard fee. there is a staffed club house/pro shop that collects greens fees*
7. has been pay-to-play since installed in 2001
8. contact info: David Enman (the work # is actually for the clubhouse)

* the club house also provides many other services, including:
- sells discs & most other equipment, snacks, etc.
- disc rental: large selection, $1/day
- provides scorecards
- keeps track of and posts your most recent 20 rounds, and calculates handicaps for all "pilots" (anyone with at least 5 scorecards turned in)
- runs weekly doubles, monthly glow rounds, several local tournaments (usually not PDGA-sanctioned because of low turnout due to the course being so isolated geographically)

As you may guess, I fully support the way this private course is run; keeping costs low and providing solid course maintenance and many other valuable services.

a few other private Maine courses which have great websites with pricing and contact info:

LaVallee Links / Augusta, ME - this is a new 3-course destination which seems comparable to Hornings

Enman Field (the Beauty and the Beast) / Brunswick, ME - 2 courses with a clubhouse setup identical to Enman riverside above

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I had never really considered the Pay-to-play option with the exception of State Parks... until i got my Clash III DVD in the mail.

The DVD is all recorded at Vallarta-Ast, a pay to play course in Madison, Wisconsin.
The course is beautiful and HUGE, if you choose to play it that way.
They had the ability to set up multiple tees on every hole, allowing for multiple levels of play.
The course pulls in enough revenue that is can maintain itself and an added public park for the community.
It sounds like it was put in mostly through local donations... which means the golfers are in touch with their community and are seen giving back to the very same people who supported them.

Sounds like an AWESOME opportunity for any Parks Department if supported by an established disc golf community.